Claire: Thank you for this reply to Jim. For me, it explained a lot of things very clearly. Much appreciated. Ray in oz. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Claire K" <cagthe@gmail.com> To: "jj.carroll" <jj.carroll@comcast.net> > Hi Jim, > > The Index to Townlands (short, informal name for the work you cite) > was published in 1861, based on the 1851 Irish census, and was > intended to standardize the Anglicized (English) spellings (and more > than spellings -- some placenames had alternate names that were not > mere spelling variations) of placenames as of that date. ...